Dragon 427 posted and Upcoming Hiatus

[Alphastream]

Things must be pretty bad at WotC HQ if they can't afford to keep the lights running on Dungeon and Dragon. It's a collection of articles mostly produced by freelancers and fans with some light editing and a little reused art.

That's overstated. DDI has at times reused art, but has almost always commissioned new art, including recently. Recent articles saw heavy involvement by Chris Perkins and Rob Schwalb, both as co-authors and authors. While freelancers are used, recently they have been heavy hitters. For example, freelancers that have written or co-written sourcebooks. Even if that weren't true, Dungeon and Dragon magazines have used freelancers heavily since their beginning.

There are two logical reasons for why the magazines are being put on hold. First, the work took away from D&D Next. Those involved with the magazines have roles to play in the next stage of D&D Next, as it moves from playtest to development and editing.

Second, sticking to 4E was contrary to business interests. I can see that. While 4E is my favorite edition, I've seen how at conventions having 4E events has confused new and casual players, or at least kept some from trying the upcoming edition. As an author for both 4E and Next, I can appreciate how it can make sense to be selective as to the kinds of Next experiences that are provided early on in the edition and how it can be challenging to make the transition, as author, from 4E to Next. It can make sense to pause and re-start with an adjusted format (or even business model) for DDI at a time when it can support sales of Next.

I'm also a big fan of Next, so I'm really okay with all of this. I have tons of 4E content. DDI articles did a tremendous job of supporting 4E, with a wide variety of content for DMs and players. While I can come up with specific articles I would like to see (Ecology of the Flumph, of course!), by and large the edition was well covered.

If I had to guess, with no knowledge whatsoever, I would guess that both Dungeon and Dragon will return. But, I would guess a new model would be used that would reduce how easy it was for gamers to subscribe a few times a year for one month and receive all the content. And I won't be shocked if they experiment with ways to get selective content for a smaller fee, or even to have content themes more closely reflect product lines. I think many fans would welcome that. (Imagine Neverwinter issues that could have supported the campaign setting, the video game, or the Encounters seasons).

 

[Thunhusthelord]

Sad news. I am a DM (D&D 4e) and have used many Dungeon adventures. I almost never read Dragon. Not my cup of tea. My players use character builder regularly and I use monster builder and compendium time to time. DDI have been good investment for me.

I hope that they could make adventures for D&D Next right now. I don´t need Dungeon magazine but I need good adventures.

Thunhus

 

[Jan van Leyden]

So they're stopping the articles, which in turn means no work whatsover will be done for the tools; they we're doing updates for the sparse contents of Dungeon and Dragon anyway.

So we don't have a release announcement for D&DN.

Let's see what the December lay-offs will bring this year.

With this turn of eventy I#m extremely sceptical right now. There are so many signs of a project dying...

 

[delericho]

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I doubt we'll see the return of Dragon or Dungeon. More likely, they'll transition entirely to web articles, abandoning any last remnants of a "magazine" concept to tie them together.

I'm inclined to agree. But then, I consider the magazines as having ended when they stopped printing, so I'm inherently cynical about such things.

Some days when I wake up in the morning, I wonder whether it's even possible to be too cynical.

At various times in my life, I've believed myself to be unbearably cynical and jaded. Invariably, a few years later I could look back at those times and marvel at how absurdly innocent I was back then. So maybe it's possible to be too cynical... but I haven't found that point yet.

 

[amerigoV]

Only if we're looking to massively overreact

Most RPGs come out with a book, what, every six months? How often does Mutants and Masterminds come out with a book? Do they have no official RPG because it's not supported on a monthly basis?

I should have put a smiley at the end of my post. I was just being snarky and tying this to a thread about a week or two ago.

 

[Plaguescarred]

That's unfortunate.

I was expecting to see previews of the new edition in the magazine's pages but this won't happen unfortunatly.

I have a feeling they're pulling Dragon/Dungeon magazine out of DDi and will keep DDi for the 4E tools only (that's if they don't just kill it) and sell the magazines seperatly in the future, either online or paperback. Just a wild guess...

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Well, there's no point in getting cranky about it as WotC has made up its collective mind.

I don't like it but there's nothing I can do. I still like the 4E tools but, if they get pulled, I will be genuinely browned off. Even then there will be nothing I can do about it. Unfortunately, without products to sell us, we're the only sort of consumers who are truly impotent against a company we used to support.

I wonder if we will look back in 3-5 years and think that this was when the Next/Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition team squandered the last of the brand's goodwill?

 

[JeffB]

Glad I only resubbed for 3 months.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I think wotc is just about done with DDI.

If I'm right, then it will be interesting to see how they monetize the mags if/when they're brought back.

Thought question: if the print mags had never existed, would the creation of new periodicals even be on the table at this juncture?

 

[Bluenose]

how much D&D content will the magazines publish,

It seems slightly odd that they have to specify D&D content. Wouldn't that basically be the whole thing, or is there content that isn't D&D planned? Is this just a more verbose way of saying how much many articles/adventures each magazine will have?

At first I was "oh no! not DDI!" then I realized it was just the magazine articles I never read anyway. Whew! I can still use the tools.

PS

How much longer you'll still be able to use the tools is a separate question.